Everything including the kitchen sink... but with special attention paid to board games, Jesus Christ, my family, being a "professional" (and I use that word loosely) Christian, and the random firing of the 10% of the synapses I'm currently using.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Bite-Sized Pieces (May 2009)

Books

If you're in any kind of church leadership role (paid or otherwise), you should either (a) read Tony Morgan's Killing Cockroaches, or (b) read Tony's blog, or (c) all of the above. The book is "Tony Morgan's greatest blogging hits" - which is to say that it's a delightful mish-mash of musings & thoughts on leadership, vision, change & life. It's not that Tony is saying new "I've never thought of that before!" stuff on each page... it's that he's reframing key issues in eye-opening ways and using personal stories to make his points crystal clear.

Stephen Lawhead's King Raven trilogy is an imaginative re-telling of the Robin Hood legends set in Wales (rather than the Sherwood/Nottingham area) during the Norman Conquest. The best of the books (in my opinion) is the 2nd, Scarlet, but all three are very good.

TV

Well, the Amazing Race is over for the 14th time... and this is possibly one of the best seasons for having a cast of relatively functional human beings AND for re-thinking how the show is edited. The focus here was on challenges and ground transportation rather than watching people wait & scheme in airports - MUCH better. It's been renewed for another season - I'm looking forward to it.

Still don't have a final word on Chuck - though the folks over at Entertainment Weekly have a bubble list that indicates a hopeful posture for all of us BuyMorians. Final word should come down next week.

Heroes is back to surprising us again, which is nice... and they've left a lot of interesting debris from the last plot line (season finale) to jump start next season. It's never reached the heady wonder of the first season again, but it's still holding my interest.

This is Survivor week - here's what I'm hoping will happen. Coach will FINALLY be voted off, Taj will figure out that she has to take Erinn with her to have a chance & the two of them will figure out a way to gracefully exit J.T. & Stephen. What's more likely: J.T. & Stephen end up as the final two, with J.T. talking about his challenge/provider role and Stephen explaining how smart he was to keep them both alive... J.T. will win with his "aw shucks" personality. Either way, I've enjoyed the season.

Movies

We saw Paul Blart: Mall Cop... the less said about that, the better. (Kevin James has impeccable comic timing... and lousy taste in vehicles in which to showcase those skills.)

Braeden watched Misty for homeschool (he'd read the book) about the Chincoteague wild horse roundup. Granted, the movie was made before I was born (1961) but the pacing was plodding like an old draft horse. I feel the same about "Misty" as I do about "Titanic" - the 'real' stuff is pretty cool - it's the boring & insipid plots that get in the way.

Games

Braeden & I are still in the midst of our epic 2090 point Heroscape battle (Marvel characters vs. Valhalla powerhouse characters). The tide seems to have turned as Thanos was rejected by death & has returned to cause havoc with my men.

We also finished a game of Battlelore last night using Call to Arms and the Portiers board. I kept hacking away at his left flank, but couldn't get the Goblin Ostrich Riders to break... and then he played Creeping Doom on my troops & managed to take out 3 units, including my Dwarven Bagpipers! The momentum shifted and he was able to pound me into submission, 6-3.

Thanks to Michelle Z., I was able to find a good-as-new copy of History of the World to replace mine that was borrowed & stolen. Of course, word on the street has it that the Ragnor Brothers are getting ready to release a streamlined History of the World later this year. Sigh.